


Escape

by Raquel555



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Older Dib (Invader Zim), POV Dib (Invader Zim), Road Trips, Short Zim (Invader Zim), Teen Dib (Invader Zim), area 51
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2020-10-29 00:29:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20787593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raquel555/pseuds/Raquel555
Summary: Dib always knew aliens were real. Problem is, nobody really believed him. The Area 51 raid being announced seemed like the answer to his prayers. Of course when it turns out to be a big music festival/joke, he’s disappointed but not undeterred. Sneaking in yields better results anyway, allowing him to make off with an alien. Which he promptly agrees to take on a road trip to Washington D.C.Or, AU where Zim’s incompetence gets him captured by the US government as soon as he lands and is consequently broken out during the Area 51 raid-by none other than Dib.





	1. Freedom

There were no bullets, and no fallen comrades. Just Dib, all dressed in black and pressed against a wall. One man could make a difference, if he really tried. That’s why Dib didn’t pack up and leave as soon as he realized the “raid” was really more of a sad parody of Woodstock and all of his hopes and dreams. If he’d managed to get into his dad’s lab, Area 51 should be a joke.

Of course, plenty of back-up and eyewitnesses would’ve been nice, but you can’t have everything. Or anything, usually. Years of torment via his classmates from primary to high school would finally pay off. Area 51 had to have something he could show off.

But when he came in, the place seemed like your average base. F-51’s and bombs that could destroy whole cities- your usual fare. Until he saw something- a figure in the corner of his eye.

Something was moving. 

Dib approached the figure with his own version of grace. Gangly limbs twisted in a facsimile of precision and he barely escaped the unfortunate occurrence of getting caught because he fell on his face. Stealth missions weren’t quite as easy as they used to be.

Upon further inspection, it became quite apparent that this something was very much alive. Alive, but not human. Somewhat humanoid, though. It was shaped almost like a human child- if human children were green, had antenna, and lacked multiple crucial facial features. In short, it was one of the most amazing things Dib had ever laid eyes upon. 

“The kids at home are gonna-” Dib began, to himself.

“Human..Let Zim free,” the creature said, in a pitifully weak voice.

It was that pained little whisper that really made Dib see the whole picture. The creature was chained up to a little table, tools and needles all around. It just wasn’t right. The government had all this evidence and yet, nobody in the world got to see it. Well, not anymore. Not if Dib had anything to say about it.

He undid the chains and set the creature free. He picked the thing up-it was curiously light- and set out to escape Area 51. Vaguely, Dib thought he could hear it demanding he be let go.

Escaping was hardly a difficult affair. Dib took the same path he did to get there, avoiding cameras and guards and the like, it was like a walk in the park. So much so he was almost insulted it took him this long to try it. And so, Dib reached his car- well, his dad’s car- with little issue. He’d left Area 51 with a real alien, and it was time to get to work. Compared to everything else he’d done, this would be easy.

Until the thing woke up, which was pretty much as soon as Dib set it down in the passenger seat.

“Free..freedom!! At last!” cheered the creature.

Well, at least it spoke English. Though how it managed to shout so loudly after sounding so weak earlier remained a mystery to Dib. So. Communicating with an extraterrestrial. Dib wasn’t quite sure how to proceed. He had spent such a long time preparing and now he was dumbfounded. Maybe ‘you're welcome for saving your weird alien life’? Or, ‘hi, I’m dib’? There hardly seemed to be a right way to go about it. 

It made the choice for Dib.

“Human-thing. I see you recognized my..superiority and accepted my help to get out of that horrible building,” said the alien-thing.

“Uh..not exactly,” began Dib.

“Zim will grant you! The great honor of escorting him to your leader,” said Zim, already putting his seat-belt on.

And that gave Dib some pause. How did he know what a seat-belt was? And more importantly, who was his leader? The president, he guessed. Yeah, he was just gonna march right up to the White House and demand an audience with the..

Dib looked at his recent companion. An alien. A real, live alien. Undeniable truth staring everyone right in the face. Obviously, the president and his cabinet already knew given that Area 51 was their base- but once word got out. And word would get out. Dib would make sure to go with plenty of press. It was insane, but Dib never shied away from risky moves. Finally, all of his peers would respect him. 

All thanks to this little guy.

Dib clicked his seat-belt on. It was decided.

“Well then. Time for a road trip to Washington, D.C. Which is on the other side of the country..”


	2. Familiarity

The next few hours of driving were relatively quiet. The thing- or Zim, he supposed- had slumped back into its-or was it his?- seat as soon as Dib started driving. It was so unreal Dib felt vaguely unsure as to whether or not he should even be operating heavy machinery. The excitement had his heart pumping so loud he could count the beats even with the radio on. On five volume, of course, Dib wasn’t sure if Zim was asleep or not or whether he was even physically able to but it seemed rude to have it any louder. 

Dib contented himself with gently drumming his fingers against the steering wheel as he went. That, and giggling to himself quietly. His name would soon go down in history as the best teen paranormal investigator there ever was. 

Dib frowned. All of his posturing was making him hungry, so he pulled over at a 7/11. A 7/11 still decorated for the “raid”, Dib noted bitterly. He left the car on and locked the doors, figuring the alien would keep up his current trend of refusing to move even slightly. Obviously a cross- country trip meant tons of preparing and supplies, but he’d just have to make do. Dib counted out what he’d need for gas money, an unfortunately large expense especially in his dad’s “family van” he never used, and budgeted the rest for food and emergency. 

Once in the store, he stared up at the shelves of delicious packaged junk. Do aliens eat? If so, what do they eat? 

“Hopefully they like snack cakes and pizza,” Dib said to himself.

Dib proceeded to grab just that, in addition to two jumbo sized drinks. Buying Zim food without a drink just seemed silly. Besides, the happier Zim is the more likely his questions are going to get answered, and Dib had a lot of those. What does space look like? Is it as beautiful and amazing as Dib always thought? Maybe even the secrets to space travel. Dib would certainly earn the Nobel Prize for all his work.

When Dib hopped back into his car, all nice and filled with snacks and gas, he was treated with the curious sight of Zim staring quite intently at his radio. Alien behavior was such a mystery. Maybe Zim just doesn’t know how to work it. Or maybe the antenna on his head allow him to pick up on radio frequencies? Dib shut the door louder than necessary to get Zim’s attention.

“Why are you staring at my radio..?” said Dib, already reaching for the notebook in his trench coat in earnest.

“Reminds me of my robot servant. The guard-humans took it.”

Dib tilted his head in confusion. Something was absolutely not clicking. Zim had a radio? 

“You..what..?” Dib started.

“Never mind that. Where were you? We have an agreement,” Zim said, sitting up like a spring

Dib scratched his neck awkwardly. Aliens can get defensive? Dib took in a deep breath. Approach delicately. All humans he’s met so far have been jerks. Not that Dib couldn’t relate. After all, his arms still ached from the bruises he received earlier this week, lovingly given to him by not only the school bullies, but his own younger sister too. Honestly it is probably just common sense to be wary around people.

“I just went to grab some junk for the road. Are you hungry?” Dib said, shoving some of the packaged goodness in Zim’s face.

Zim recoiled, hitting the passenger door and shaking the car. His features were tightened up in a way that Dib might’ve called anguish if he’d seen it on a human. Zim held his arms up defensively, and glared at Dib with the fury of a thousand suns. How something so tiny could suddenly be so menacing was a question that would certainly haunt Dib for years. Apparently it really did not like snacks.

Neither of them moved for a second. Neither of them even breathed. Maybe Zim was convinced Dib wasn’t going to do anything, because he finally settled down and sat normally. He turned to Dib slowly.

“Zim has no need for your disgusting human food.”

And that was that. Of course Dib was completely fascinated. There had to be more to that story, but somehow pushing Zim seemed like a poor idea. People were variables Dib never understood, and an alien would probably be even more unpredictable. 

But before Dib could lament his lack of social skills, he saw something out of the corner of his lenses.

A man in a suit. In the hot desert of Nevada. 


	3. Heat Rises

Dib did not want to die. Now, some days it felt as if he wasn’t so sure about that. Sometimes he seemed to be floating upon a sea of indifference, a heavy veil of uncertainty blocking out any self-preservation he easily ignored on most days. Not difficult with the lack of close connections tethering him to the world. Even his family wasn’t much of an incentive. Of course, such thoughts generally came and went- After all, if Dib didn’t reveal the paranormal truths of the world, who would?

And yet all of that complex thinking flew out of the window as soon as he laid eyes on the suit. His brain was there to make only the simplest connection. That suit = danger and that was it. Without even really thinking, Dib grabbed the gear and threw the car in motion. 

Dib swerved the car, somehow managing to look as suspicious as physically possible while also managing to slam Zim into the other side of the car. Dib turned for a second, wide eyed at the sight of Zim going flying, and that was all it took. Dib met eyes with the suit. Deep dark brown eyes squinted and studied as Dib wondered if it was possible to be terrified from eyes alone. 

But really, it was just a second. One blink of the eye and instead of staring into the coldest eyes he’s ever seen, he’s staring at miles of deserted desert road. Dib drives for miles, going as fast as the minivan would take him. He doesn’t look back, not until he’s finally managed to catch his breath.

“You are a terrible driver, human,” Zim said, sitting up in his seat and fixing his antenna.

“The government! They’re after u- I am not a terrible driver!” 

Dib blinked for a second. Had Zim not yet bothered to learn his name? Actually- had he even given the alien his name yet?

“My name’s Dib, by the way.” 

Dib. He always kinda figured that name would go down in history. Infamy, though, wasn’t really what he was looking for. He looked back down, his knuckles turning a bright white against the dark black of the steering wheel. Obviously he knew he was committing treason. He just sorta figured everybody would be fine with that once he revealed a huge conspiracy and proved himself right. The during hadn’t really occurred to him.

And now he was going to die. Dib looked over at Zim, wondering if he had any idea how screwed they were. 

“Oh. I am Zim.”

“Yeah, I know. You say it a lot.”

“Oh.”

Probably not.


	4. Might

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Defender of humanity has a nice ring to it.

They’ve been driving for hours! The desert is way bigger than Dib ever imagined. And he constantly thought of going to the endless abyss of space! Honestly, he never thought driving could be so much work. Dib glances at his passenger.

Dib can do this. He just has to evade the secret service or government agents or whatever until he can share Zim with the world. He’d risked his life for smaller before. But maybe he can gather a bit of information? 

“Hey, Zim? What were you doing when you got here anyway?”

“Huh? Oh. Merely establishing my base when those disgusting humans attacked me. They got lucky, of course. Very lucky they caught Zim off guard,” Zim said, his words rising in volume as they went on.

“Hey! Humans are great! Well, most of them.. some of them..” Dib faltered.

Defending his people came naturally, as if it was his instinct to protect his species. But outright lying to himself and Zim seemed silly. 

“Humanity as a whole isn’t that bad.”

Yeah, Dib could buy that one. After all, there was him. And some of the members of the Swollen Eyeball Network, and that meant it was basically true. Though, Zim seemed unconvinced.

“Hah. Humans are vastly inferior!”

And honestly, Dib had no frame of reference. No idea what Zim even is.

“Cause Zim-thingies are so much better?”

“Irkens are a mighty race!”

That answered that. Baiting Zim was a good way to get answers- Besides, “defender of humanity” has a nice ring to it. Dib, the only defender of humanity against the inane ranting of a tiny alien. 

Dib didn’t really have much to say after that, and a quiet silence fell over the odd duo until night. Time to stop, maybe. Dib knew they were hardly safe, but he also knew driving when your vision blacks out every minute and the road is pitch black isn’t a great idea.   
He’d take death by CIA interrogation over car crash any day.

Dib stopped the car, and tilted his seat back. The stars looked so pretty, without all of the city’s pollution drowning them out. He wanted a closer look. Dib hopped out of the car, and jumped onto the roof. Just laying down and relaxing.

That is, until Zim followed him up there.


	5. Gaze

Dib could already hear Zim whining about how they were supposed to be on their way to “his leader”. He only knew Zim for a day and yet he already knows Zim’s “headache imminent” face. Something about that didn’t sit quite right with Dib, who never really understood the slight nuances of people. Not even his own sister’s. 

The world seemed so quiet, and so beautiful. The stars above him glittered temptingly like nothing else, and the last thing Dib wanted to hear was incessant complaining. So, before Zim could open his weird alien mouth, Dib asked something he’d been wondering for quite a while now.

“Is it as amazing up there as it looks?” Dib could not help himself. He didn’t want Zim to urge him back into the car, and he was so curious. It seemed so much better up there. 

The question gave Zim a bit of pause. He stopped, and the wheels started spinning in his head. Perhaps Zim had never really thought of his home like that. Dib looked down, relaxed smile drooping despondently. He settled into something a little more cynical and guarded; a little half smile lacking the mirth it held a few moments ago. Obviously Zim wouldn’t have an answer for such a weird question.

“It looks different down here,” said Zim, his voice low and even.

Dib looked up, surprise coloring his features. 

“It’s much smaller down here. And more disgusting,” Zim continued. His voice took on much more venom as the sentence went on.

Dib blinked at him. Maybe space is cleaner. Maybe space is cleaner! Dib was already learning about what lies beyond the stratosphere. Dib stared up at the sky. It did look less messy than it is down here on Earth.

“I think you’re right.”

Then it was Zim’s turn to look surprised. He recovered quickly, though.

“Of course I am. I always am.”

They sat in silence after that. It was comfortable.


	6. Storm

Dib woke up to tiny drops of water on his face that morning. It was starting to rain, maybe. Dib didn’t mind the rain much. It would make it slightly harder to drive but it wasn’t a major problem. Not to Dib, anyway. Just as he started calculating a safer speed limit with consideration to the rain and lack of other drivers on the road, Zim freaked him out yet again. 

Zim jumped like he’d been struck by lighting, and jumped into the car faster than Dib could blink. Zim held the door shut, glaring daggers at the uncaring rain. He flinched at the sound of raindrops hitting the car and huddled into himself.

Dib scratched his head. Maybe it doesn’t rain on Zim’s planet. Which would mean he doesn’t need to drink, which is another question altogether. For now, it was time to comfort the overreacting extraterrestrial. Dib climbed off of the roof of the car and hopped into the driver’s seat. Zim didn’t have a drop on him, and Dib barely had a few sprinkles dotting his lenses.

Still there was Zim, shivering like he was soaked. Dib shook his head and started the car. 

“It’s just rain. It’s not gonna hurt us,” Dib tried to reassure.

“LIES!”

Dib rolled his eyes and grabbed hold of the steering wheel. It was almost nice not being the ignorant one of the duo. Nice that he could do the educating, anyway. Finally, he could put his 3rd grade diagrams about precipitation to good use. Dib stayed focused on the road, but cleared his throat to give a listen on the water system on Earth.

Zim looked uninterested, choosing instead to stare at the rain as if daring it to somehow attack him from inside the car. A tiny sadistic portion of Dib wanted to roll down the window, but he quashed the thought at the seemingly genuine anger displayed on Zim’s weird green alien face. Dib turned to look at the alien, about to try reassuring him again when he noticed something strange.

The rain was coming down hard, it suddenly started pouring. Dib quirked an eyebrow. Weren’t they still in Nevada? The landscape was starting to look less desert and more forest, which he didn’t even really know Nevada had, but still. It was Nevada in summer, and this much rain was absolutely madness. Dib looked back at the windshield, remembering oh right, I’m driving. 

Driving right into a large puddle, it seemed. The car began hydroplaning, and Dib lost control. He tried to hold onto the steering wheel, but it was quickly becoming a losing battle. Somewhere behind him he could vaguely hear the highest pitch screaming he’d ever been forced to endure. As all control was forcefully pulled from his white-knuckled hands, Dib shut his eyes. All Dib could think was how he always thought he’d die alone, and how glad he was to find he’s been wrong all this time.

Dib felt something warm dripping down his head. 

The car was upside down, but it wasn’t over yet.

“Now the real headache begins,” he groans to himself.

Dib paused as he slowly realized he was alive. He beamed for a moment, and then immediately whipped his aching head around. Where was Zim? That answer came to him right away when he noticed the alien still buckled in. Funny, Dib thinks its funny that Zim’s inexplicable knowledge of seatbelts has come in handy so soon. So funny he almost starts losing it right then and there, laughing so hard because his car is wrecked and he’s still probably dead ‘cause he’s in the middle of the Nevada forest- and who even knows that exists?- and he’s got the freaking CIA after him and..

And Zim is still screaming. Dib thinks its because the weird guy is still scared of the crash, Lord knows he can relate, but then he notices the windshield is broken. Rain is pouring in and Dib realizes Zim is burning. The rain must be like acid on his foreign skin because he’s sizzling.

It is then Dib remembers with a heavy heart why it is raining in Nevada in the summer. Monsoon season. Of course it’s monsoon season.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof at the pacing on this one. hope you guys like it.


	7. Monsoon Season

Dib unbuckles his seatbelt without further hesitation, moving in for the rescue. He places himself just above Zim. He tries to position himself directly under the hole in the windshield. His body contorts into an uncomfortable U-shape and he’s so close to Zim he’s practically on top of him, but the burning seems to have stopped aside from a few sprinkles. Dib grips the edges of the hole to hold on, and finally breaks out into an uneasy grin.

“Zim? Are you alright?” Dib says, before he can stop the words from tumbling out of his stupid mouth. 

Zim doesn’t reply. Maybe he can’t hear Dib over his own shrieking. Dib turns his head ever so slightly to steal a look of the outside world. The road ahead stretches on as far as Dib’s eyes can see. If he wants to get them out of this, he needs to move fast. They have to walk back to the gas station. Maybe they can get a tow truck or a mechanic. His eyes move to the ground where, of course, his now destroyed cell phone lies. 

Dib takes a deep breath. At least now they have a plan. Zim’s skin seems to have stopped sizzling, but he still hardly passes for human. Thankfully, Zim is a tiny thing. So tiny that it may be possible to bundle him up in Dib’s impressively stylish trench coat. Function and fashion go hand in hand, in Dib’s humble opinion. 

Dib pulls off the soaking material, grimacing at the clingy apparel. It isn’t until he’s right about to wrap the alien in his coat that he realizes, rather belatedly he will admit, that this is probably going to hurt Zim. The realization gives him some pause, but. Eh. He can live with it. And with that, he bundles Zim as well as he can, doing his best to ignore the complaining.

“Alright. You look good enough. Just remember to hold the sides closed around you, and I’m sure you’ll fool any passersby.”

“Ugh. This inferior human covering has your scent all over it, Dib-thing.”

Dib wonders if that’s an insult or not. The two climb out of the car wreck and make it back to the road. One look at the sky tells Dib that the rain isn’t letting up soon. Why did he give his coat up to Zim, again? 

They’d barely walked for five minutes when Dib really felt that regret bubbling inside of him turn into a distinct desire to steal his coat back. Zim’s incessant whining about “filthy earth weather” or “your style is lame’ was really starting to wear him down. Not to mention his inability to stop shivering. Dib held up his fingers to his face. They were starting to turn blue. Probably. He couldn’t really see anything past the blurred mess of his glasses, but the color seemed to be there. 

Dib grabbed the hem of his shirt in one hand and the aforementioned glasses in the other. One gentle wipe later, he placed them back to their rightful place. Nothing changed. Great. Adding water to clear water probably didn’t make sense in the first place, but it usually works! Dib turns to his side, making sure Zim didn’t happen to see his brief lapse in judgement. 

Zim was far too busy trying to retreat as far into Dib’s sweater as physically possible. Poor guy seemed to really be terrified of the water, and a vague pang of something hit Dib. Something like the pity he usually reserved for himself, but for Zim. Weird concept.

Dib looked up from his thoughts to see headlights approaching. Most people have the good sense to stay home during a monsoon- Dib was pleading ignorance on this one- but of course somebody still has to make this trip harder than it needs to be. Dib moves a bit further away from the road, hoping he wouldn’t get hurt if the car passing hydroplaned in the same manner his car had. The approaching vehicle began slowing down, and a terrifying thought hit Dib. What if that car held certain individuals that may or may not be happy with him?

As if to confirm his worst fears, the car slowed to a stop right next to them. Dib stares in muted horror at the window slowly rolling down. He barely has enough time to grab Zim in an odd sheltering hug, in an attempt to cover the alien’s weird face, before the truth becomes obvious.

“Hey there, pal. Where are you and your friend headed to? It’s not safe out here”, said a completely ordinary looking man.

Dib peers into the SUV, noticing a few others in the car. A family. Definitely not members of the CIA or FBI or even the IRS. 

“We just wouldn’t feel right leaving you boys out here. Get on in and tell us where you’re headed,” the man continued.

Dib is not to talk to strangers. Then again, he’s also not supposed to break into top secret government agencies or commit treason, so he may as well go the whole nine yards. Besides, who can you trust if not a kindly family? Dib has seen plenty of horror movies, and while he recognizes this as a common beginning to those, he also knows he is far too cognizant of those tropes to end up victim to them. Anyway, his life is clearly an awesome Sci-Fi and not a cheesy horror flick. Not to mention how terrible Zim looks with his skin vaguely smoking or how hard he himself is shivering. Dib looks back at the road. He’d take a strange family over certain death and torture at the hands of his own goverment, that’s for sure. Every second spent outside seemed to be convincing him more and more, so Dib climbed in without any further thought. 

“We’re headed to Washington”, says Dib, as he finishes clicking his and Zim’s seatbelts on.

“Well, that’s awful far. I suppose you two can stay at our house tonight and we’ll drop you off as far as we can go tomorrow”

Dib is seized by the sudden desire to refuse. Accepting a ride was dangerous enough, but staying the night at a random house is probably a step too far. But before he can voice any discontent with that plan, the world tilts. Dib’s hand goes back to his head. The splitting feeling from earlier is starting to return. On second thought, it is possible a short nap won’t hurt. Zim is finally being quiet, after all.

Wait. Zim! Dib can’t let them see the alien. He carefully re-wraps Zim in his trench coat before strategically laying Zim’s head onto his lap, just so the other people in the vehicle can’t see the weird alien-ness that isn’t covered by the trench coat.

Unfortunately, though, it appears that’s going to be his last lucid action for some time, cause the world starts to dance in front of him. Dib thinks he can vaguely hear the sound of voices around him, but the pain in his head and the comforting sound of rain make it impossible to do anything but tighten his hold on Zim and give in to the darkness.


End file.
